St. Cloud State Update

The Huskies enjoy a weekend off from competition before heading down to the Wisconsin-LaCrosse Duals on Dec. 3, in LaCrosse, Wis. On that day SCSU will wrestle Waldorf College at 9 a.m., UW-Stevens Point at 11 a.m. and UW-LaCrosse at 1 p.m.

The #1 St. Cloud State wrestling team participated at the 2011 Finn Grinaker Open on Nov. 19. This open tournament was hosted by Concordia-Moorhead and no team scores were kept at the tournament. The Huskies were paced the tournament with a pair of first place finishes. At 174-pounds in the Gold Division, senior Tad Merritt earned top honors with a 4-0 record that included an 8-6 win in the title bout over Kurtis Julson of North Dakota State. Teammate Kurt Salmen placed third in the 174-pound bracket for SCSU. At 197-pounds in the Gold Division, senior Lucas Munkelwitz scored a 4-0 record and brought home another title for the Huskies. Munkelwitz charted a 4-1 win over Martin Hagan of Southwest Minnesota State in the title match. The Huskies also had a second place finish by Zach Stewart at 133-pounds and a third place finish from Andy Pokorny at 133-pounds at the Concordia Open. At 157-pounds, Jacob D. Horn placed third in the Gold Division and Josh Howk placed 3rd for the Huskies at 149-pounds.

The Huskies earned the #1 spot in the 2011-12 NSIC preseason poll. The Huskies also received the top spot in the 2011-12 preseason national poll released by the Division II Wrestling Coaches’ Association. Senior Tad Merritt was ranked #1 in the nation at 165-pounds and Jake Kahnke was ranked #2 in the nation at 285-pounds in the DII preseason polls. In those same preseason polls, Shamus O’Grady (174) and Derek Skala (184) both gained #4 rankings and Jacob D. Horn (149) was ranked 7th.

SCSU’s Jacob Kahnke earned NSIC Wrestler of the Week notice on Nov. 8, 2011. He gained the award by posting a first place finish at the SDSU Daktronics Open on Nov. 6 in Brookings.

St. Cloud State University (19-2, 6-1 NSIC) set a new team standard by capturing 2nd place at the 2011 NCAA Division II championships on March 11-12 in Kearney, Neb. This is the best finish at a national championship for the Huskies since the program started in 1949-50. The previous best efforts for the Huskies were 3rd place finishes at the NAIA tournament in 1963 and 1965. In NCAA Division II action, the best finish prior to 2011 was a 7th place finish in 2010 and 1983. SCSU scored 90.5 team points at the NCAA championships, while Nebraska-Omaha won its third consecutive team title with 102.5 points. This was the most points scored at a national meet by the Huskies in team history. The previous high was 50 points scored at the NCAA tournament in 2010.

SCSU’s John Sundgren captured 1st place at the NCAA championships in the 157-pound bracket. He was the first Husky to win a national title since Gene Hanemann won his title in 1995. This was the 12th individual national title for a Husky wrestling since 1958, and it was just the 2nd NCAA Division II individual national title for a Husky wrestler.

The Huskies bring back the following All-Americans from the 2011 championships: Jacob Kahnke (2nd at 285), Tad Merritt (3rd at 165), Shamus O’Grady (4th at 174) and Jacob D. Horn (5th at 149). Senior Derek Skala was a redshirt last year but he has earned All-America honors at previous NCAA meets.

Tad Merritt set a new team record for victories in 2010-11. Merritt charted a 40-4 overall record last winter. Merritt currently owns 113 career wins at SCSU in his first four seasons of competition. The current SCSU career win record is held by Dustin Darveaux with 142 from 1999-03.